<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Tomorrow is Here by QueenBookBuff</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26868028">Tomorrow is Here</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenBookBuff/pseuds/QueenBookBuff'>QueenBookBuff</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>All Our Tomorrows [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>That '70s Show</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Drama, F/M, Forgiveness, Future, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 18:54:57</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>7,278</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26868028</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenBookBuff/pseuds/QueenBookBuff</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Jackie and Hyde move on to real life together, but there are still hurts to heal and truths that must be said.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Eric Forman &amp; Steven Hyde, Eric Forman/Michael Kelso, Jackie Burkhart/Michael Kelso, Jackie Burkhart/Red Forman, Jackie Burkhart/Steven Hyde</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>All Our Tomorrows [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1946353</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>45</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Protecting What He Loves</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This story sums up life for Jackie and Hyde after they settle down from running away. I have been working on this story, since before She Belongs To Me was over. I have rewritten it, changed the time line, taken things and thrown things back in. All of this to say, my timing and editing might not be the very best.</p><p>I have one more story, that is more of an aside to go with this because I want to explore what if Kelso did just show up one day, and I have created a whole world in my head now about Hyde and Jackie's children which no one may ever care about but I'm already writing it. Hyde as a father, is my new favorite thing to ponder.</p><p>I teach all day long and sometimes I think when I write I lose my focus on editing.... so please forgive me if it sucks this time.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He lied to her that night. The last time he ever will, but he knew he didn’t burn any bridges with Eric, but he has a pulsating fear of anything from Point Place finding them. He had wanted to wait until Jackie and him had settled into the anonymity that was Madison to tell her that Eric had told him where to come that night, and he was confident that Eric didn’t hate them. Yet, each day that passed it got harder to tell her, and he was just starting to unclench about losing her.</p><p> </p><p>He was still struggling with the idea that she would wake up one morning and regret leaving with him. The first three months of marriage had been rocky, not because they didn’t love each other, but they had a lot to work out.  They had to address the cheating, her pushing, him not trusting her, and his inability to tell her how he felt, and they both had to work through how they hurt themselves. Talking about his drinking and listening to her explain why she “forgets” to eat had been brutal. For Hyde, listening to anything that involves Jackie hurt or not taking care of herself makes him sick. </p><p> </p><p>He is sitting in this quiet diner in the deepest corner of Milwaukee, waiting for Forman against his better judgment. He is here only because he can’t stand to watch Jackie in pain, and he does miss Forman, but his fear currently outweighs anything and he hopes this is not a mistake. He closes his eyes and pleads to a God he is starting to believe in that this won’t blow up in his face. He can’t help but drift back to the night that caused him to be seated in this dive of a diner in the first place. It had been terrible, the worst fight him and Jackie have ever had and that is saying something. </p><p> </p><p>He hates to fight with her because when they saddle up and go at each other, it’s like fire and gasoline. They have extreme and explosive reactions to each other. Fear for Jackie or losing her has always caused him to react in one way……. WIth unreasonable frustration, and this time had been no different.</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>The Apartment the Night of the Fight</b>
</p><p> </p><p>“Please Steven. I miss them, I just want to talk to them. What harm can there be in that?”</p><p>Jackie had pleaded </p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>His brain had near exploded and the voice that he tries so hard to stop was screaming in his head</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>  “Harm? What Harm? Had she been asleep the last two years? They wanted to hurt them.Their friends had hurt them!’ </em>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>“I TOLD YOU THIS WHEN WE LEFT! I TOLD YOU YOU WOULD HAVE TO LEAVE IT ALL BEHIND! ALL OF IT JACKIE! DO YOU REGRET IT ALREADY?” fear drives him to yell</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p> And in a Classic Jackie response with a  moment of spitefulness aimed at him, she throws out an arrow with a poison tip.</p><p> </p><p>“Go to Hell Hyde.”</p><p> </p><p>He stopped, shocked that she had called him Hyde. She knows he hates her to call him anything but Steven. He knows, and she knows it is a deliberate way to separate herself from him. It was nasty, a barb she knew would hurt him, because she knows when she calls him that she is digging at his weak point, Steven is good, but Hyde is a bastard who is trash. Hyde is who hurts her, Hyde is a monster.</p><p> </p><p>All the breath went out of his body, and he had whispered out painfully</p><p> </p><p> “Jackie”</p><p> </p><p>Still, in temper she simply arched her eyebrow at him, her chin up in defiance, and refusing to back down, not showing a bit of remorse in her eyes for trying to hurt him.</p><p> </p><p> “Fuck this. I don’t need this.”</p><p> </p><p> He turned and grabbed his coat, and walked out. He thought he heard her call his name, but he didn’t care, he slammed the door and marched out into the rainy night. He went to grab his keys, but they weren’t in his pocket, he kicked the Camino and started striding down the street.</p><p> </p><p>As he wandered the sky cried on him, he wondered briefly what the hell it was with him and Jackie and storms……….</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>  First time making love….. fucking storm of the century </em>
</p><p>
  <em>  He decided to fight for her, the sky was tearing itself apart </em>
</p><p>
  <em>  Trying to find forgiveness the rain had fallen like grace from the sky </em>
</p><p>
  <em>  Fighting and hurting each other the sky weeps in reaction.  </em>
</p><p> </p><p><em> “What the hell is he doing he thinks?  He is standing out here, getting soaked. </em> The rain is pelting down and its cold, and none of this will solve the fight or the problem that waits back home, but he raises his face to the sky, letting the rain numb him. She had called him Hyde, and even though he knows she was mad, it had hurt like hell. </p><p> </p><p>He hears a sound, and he thinks it is his name, and he turns back and peers behind him trying to locate the cry in the night. He hears nothing and turns back around, determined to walk until he can sort it out, but then he hears it again, his name being yelled.</p><p> </p><p>
  <b> <em>“STEVEN!”</em> </b>
</p><p>He knows that voice and rounds on it, just as she appears under the streetlight breaking up the darkness. There she stands in her bare feet, her very short cheerleading shorts she likes to wear to bed and her thin sleeping top plastered to her, already completely see through.</p><p> </p><p>She’s shivering in the rain, staring at him under the light with her lip quivering. He is completely shocked.  What the hell she is doing?  He can’t stop himself. This reaction will never stop no matter how many years they are married, he will go into pissed/lecture mode when he thinks she is being reckless. </p><p> </p><p>He strides towards her, angrily</p><p> </p><p> “DAMN IT JACKIE! What the hell are you doing? No Shoes?, Barely Dressed, You are going to be the death of me. God woman.”</p><p> </p><p>He is ranting and raving about getting pneumonia, getting attacked, and why doesn't she use the brains God gave her, and put some damn shoes on!</p><p> </p><p>He is interrupted when she blurts out</p><p> </p><p> “Please don’t run away again.” </p><p> </p><p>It stops him in his tracks, he looks at her, and recognizes fear written across her features. </p><p> </p><p>He sighs and rubs the rain from his face, looks at her and says</p><p> </p><p> “Get on my back.”</p><p> </p><p> He walks them back, and he feels a warm wetness on his shoulder. He knows she is crying, and her comment still confuses him. </p><p> </p><p>Hyde gets them home quickly, neither are talking. His first instinct and it always will be, is to take care of her. He starts a warm shower, shoves her in it, and puts new PJs on the toilet along with her big fuzzy robe. He dries off and puts new clothes on and heads to the kitchen, and for the first time since he threw that whiskey bottle sailing into the air that night she begged him to stop, he is going to drink, because frankly he doesn’t give a fuck if it makes her mad or not.</p><p> </p><p>He hears the shower turn off and her getting dressed, he tenses for when she walks out. </p><p> </p><p>Jackie notices it immediately, the glass, the bottle and the examination of a predator falling on her husband’s face. She knows. She knows she screwed up by calling him Hyde, but DAMN, this man drives her to madness, she always wants to hurt him back as much as he was hurting her. She closes her eyes, and wonders when they will ever get past this. She opens her eyes again, and he is staring at her like he is sizing her up, and with every sip she sees less Steven on his face. She takes a deep breath and whispers</p><p> “Steven, please don’t drink…..you know how I feel about it.”</p><p> </p><p>His face went hard, it had been awhile since she had witnessed this part of him, and had to battle it. With deliberate choice, she watches him pick up his almost full glass and throw it back in one shot. He slammed the glass on the table and said, “Don’t you mean Hyde.”</p><p> </p><p>He could be so stubborn, and often forgets he started a fight in the first place and turns on his opponent like he was the victim. It  is an instant defense to hurt before he can be hurt more and this is something they will work on for a long time.  Right now it is an in place defense mechanism, and she knows even though it’s not fair to her, she is dealing with a Steven who is a ticking time bomb.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m sorry I called you Hyde. I shouldn’t have, but you were yelling at me and being ridiculous”</p><p> </p><p>He is trying to leash in his temper but it’s slipping and this fight is past the original source and digging at wounds they are still attempting to fix and that is what makes it nasty, all the subtext.</p><p> </p><p>He snarls “It is ridiculous to want to protect you? It’s stupid to not want people who want to hurt you, me, near us? Maybe you regret running of?.”</p><p> </p><p>He watches her eyes flare again at the accusation and her control slips as well</p><p> </p><p>“STOP SAYING THAT! JUST BECAUSE I WANT TO SEE THE FORMANS DOESN'T MEAN I REGRET YOU.”</p><p> </p><p>And because she is on a roll tonight, she almost without thinking throws out the worst thing she could say, the thing that is worse than calling him Hyde, but Jackie is no different when hurt, she lashes out and out pops in the haughtiest voice</p><p> </p><p>“Please Steven, if I regretted it, I am sure I could call Micahel, and he would come and get me.”</p><p> </p><p>Every ounce of color flies out of his face, and his sharp blue eyes go gray, almost like the rain outside.  She will watch for the first time, him struggle to the reign in the violent anger inside of him, she has seen him  angry, she has seen him out of control, but she has never seen him want to direct it at her, and she can see it his frigid slate eyes. He very much wants to destroy her. </p><p> </p><p>She will never forget this, and understand with keen precision what a good man he is, because he wants to let it out. He is almost quivering with it, but she is watching him struggle with everything he is not to hurt her.</p><p> </p><p>He stares at her, black flies of anger swarming up in him, and he wants to get up and tear her apart. He can visualize it in his head clearly and the part of him that likes the way  hate tastes is chanting </p><p>
  <em> “She deserves it. Let it out.”  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>He can’t. He summons everything precious to him, so he doesn’t kill it, he gets up and walks to the counter and grabs his keys, he can’t stay here. He has to get away from her. </p><p> </p><p>He says not a word, but his eyes catch hers, and they have the same look as they did out in the rain, something more than just anger but an uncertainty. An uncertainty <em> in him </em> staring out of her eyes is not helping his temper. </p><p> </p><p>He heads for the door when he hears <em> “Don’t run away again, and not come back.” </em></p><p> </p><p>From hot to cold, it's always amazed him how fast his blood can heat and then go stone cold. He takes a deep cleansing breath. He deliberately keeps turned away from her, because he knows this is trembling Jackie, out in the rain Jackie, the Jackie that he has no power against. The Jackie that is the little girl with the skinned knee.</p><p> </p><p>“What does that mean?”</p><p> </p><p>She turns her head and says “You leave and then you don’t come back.”</p><p> </p><p>He knows exactly what she is talking about. She’s talking about Chicago and Vegas, and his old screw ups still hurt, and he is seething </p><p> </p><p>“I’m your husband, I’m not going to just abandon you.”</p><p> </p><p>Those words bring up an resentment not put to rest in Jackie’s heart and once again without thinking she pulls out her ace</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, I know how committed you are to not abandoning your obligations, that is why we were treated to Sam.”</p><p> </p><p>As soon as it is out of her mouth, she regrets it and starts to say she is sorry, but she sees him turn with keys in hand still and start to head back and grab the bottle.</p><p> </p><p>He forgets how damn the fast she is and that she is trained to launch herself in the air, so it takes him by complete surprise when she throws herself in front of him and the bottle, but in a moment of pure horror he watches her foot catch on the carpet and they collide simultaneously for the bottle, and both of them, the whiskey bottle go crashing to the floor.</p><p> </p><p>He is stunned and forgets he is mad,</p><p> </p><p> “Jackie are you okay?” </p><p> </p><p>He scoops her up quickly, wanting to make sure that she isn't cut by the glass. She is sobbing, clutching him and crying</p><p> </p><p>“ I’m sorry over and over again.”</p><p> </p><p> He folds her close and for the second time he takes her into the bathroom, starts the shower, and works to get her cleaned up. This time he joins her under the bracing water, and holds her close to him, as she still weeps into his chest.</p><p> </p><p>She is breaking his heart, he mourns that they still want to hurt each other, that they have miles to go before new memories pave over the old road. </p><p> </p><p>“Jackie, I’m sorry, for all of it. For yelling at you, leaving the house, for drinking when I know you hate it, for not understanding that you missing home has nothing to do with Kelso.”</p><p> </p><p>He tips her chin to meet her eyes, and feels a thousand tiny pieces of glass scratching at his very fucked up heart. He sees regret, hurt, shame and fear. He can still see the fear that he might leave her.</p><p> </p><p>“Steven, I’m sorry. I don’t want Kelso, I don’t want him to come get me, I am so sorry I called you Hyde and I’m sorry about Sam, but I do worry that one day I will make you mad enough that you will leave.”</p><p> </p><p>He closes his eyes against that fear he created, does everything he can to help heal it</p><p> </p><p>“Doll, I’m never leaving you. Even when we were apart, you owned me.” </p><p> </p><p>They held each other tight, letting the water run cold, they spent the rest of the night soothing and comforting each other. </p><p> </p><p>After the fight, as they lay in bed, he tells her truth about Eric and how Eric had helped him know when to show up and that he knows Eric is not mad at him.</p><p> </p><p>Her gypsy eyes as he likes to call them find his in bed. All the mad and hurt gone from earlier, only contentment to be with him. Her eyes will always be what he relies on to know her.  It still made him crazy happy to see her next to him, she raised up on her elbow with her hair falling over her breast and her grasshopper that she was never without dangling and laughed.</p><p> </p><p>“I know Baby.”  as she snuggled back into his chest.</p><p> </p><p>He had rolled his eyes and thought, of course she did. He could hide nothing from her. He looks down and in those quick seconds she is already deeply asleep. If he is close she sleeps soundlessly, deeply and without fear. She once told him that he keeps her monsters away. He plays with her fingers, looking at the one that marked her as his on the outside. He had been shocked speechless when she said she wanted to get married. </p><p> </p><p>He remembered telling her that he was willing to wait and work on all the things he had messed up, her eyes hd lite up with fire, and she had demanded</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “I’m getting married today Steven James Hyde. It’s supposed to be my wedding day. Believe me, we have a ton of things to discuss, but we are going to do it as a married couple.” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>So Jackie Burkhart became Jackie Hyde in an unpretentious little court house outside of Chicago, in her Gypsy dress dried from the night before as her wedding dress, her grasshopper proudly hanging out, her hair wild with curls, and he had slipped the ring on her finger. The happiest he had been since that rainy day she blew them over the line.</p><p> </p><p>It was the best damn day of his life, nothing will ever top making Jackie his. He has told her time and time again that they can do something more, something more special, but she always smiles and says she just wants him. It’s all she has ever wanted, she has it, and she needs nothing more.</p><p> </p><p>So he called WB and asked him to get his information discreetly to Eric. They agreed to meet somewhere, not connected to either of them. He will not meet in Madison, he wants nothing following Eric into their world.</p><p> </p><p>He feels this compulsive need to keep her away from anything related to that place. For Hyde, Point Place is like poison, he won’t let it infect them. After Eric told him everything the night before the rehearsal dinner, and he finally thought about it, he actively feared Kelso would never stop. His need to claim Jackie wasn’t normal. He has a recurring nightmare where Kelso would show up and take her. He bolts straight up in bed, and he always frantically pulls her to him. Her being taken from him is his worst nightmare. Even when he was doing his best to destroy their relationship and hurt her, in his mind there is no world that she doesn't exist. He knows if there is every a time that there is no Jackie, he will follow quickly. He knows he can’t live in a world where she is gone.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The Story Must Be Told</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Eric and Hyde have a lot to discuss and reflect on.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This story is so long and I don't think I did a good breaking off in good places, I apologize for abruptness</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>He’s</b>
  <span> nervous, which is ridiculous because he has known Forman his whole life. There is absolutely no reason to be worried about seeing him. He set this up, but he was jittery. It had been 8 months since he stepped into that reception hall, looking for one final moment with Jackie. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He closes his eyes…… </span>
  <em>
    <span>Jackie,</span>
  </em>
  <span> it brings him such peace to know that she is tucked away at home, waiting for him, loving him, wanting him. He regrets all the hurt it took to get to this place, but he will never be sorry he left with her that night.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Hyde! His name is called, and he snaps back to see Eric standing in front of him. In a rare moment of emotion for someone other than Jackie, he pops out of the booth and hugs him. Their meeting is intense, because in the end these two men are not friends, they are brothers, and they are both really  happy to see each other.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They talk about everything but that night, but finally Hyde knows he must bring it up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What happened after we left Eric?” he asks with hesitation</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Eric pauses, he isn’t sure what to say… It was brutal, all of it. The damage after the storm of them leaving left everyone changed, Eric is glad for it but it was life altering, and he is still trying to find perch and steadiness on this new ground.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He can’t help but have cocky pride that it was him that sent the final shot into Kelso. He wishes he didn’t feel that way, but he does. He looks at Hyde and pours it all out</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I walked in and dropped the ring in his hand and told him I planned it. I then pushed out into the parking lot. I waited and in about 5 minutes, Kelso came out and tackled me. I wanted to fight him, that is why I waited. We got into the fight of the century, Dad and Casey had to pull us apart.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He tells how the whole party spilled out into the parking lot and how everyone was yelling and trying to keep them separate. He tells him finally Casey got Kelso in a car and drove him off. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He tells him how when he got home Donna was waiting for him in the drive way and began to yell</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span> “How could you? Why would you do this to Kelso?” </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He tells Hyde he was so stunned by her audacity that he just stood there until Red came out and looked at Donna and said coldly and without a drop of feeling</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Leave my property. If I see you on it again, I will call the police for trespassing” </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He tells him his dad changed every lock in the house and that the screen door and the basement door are always locked now. Eric doesn’t tell Hyde that is one of the things that hurts the most, how the basement went from home to everyone to being somewhere no one belongs anymore.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He tells him that Kelso went looking for them for months, and he watches Hyde’s face go bone white.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hyde feels that panicked fear from his nightmare welling up in him and all he can think is </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“I’m not with Jackie. What if he takes her?”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Eric sees all this come across his face and quickly says, “He stopped. It’s okay. Fez, still talks to me, and he still talks to Donna and Kelso. He told me that Kelso knocked it off. Fez makes me sad, he had his part in this disaster but it wasn’t like Kelso and Donna. He doesn’t know where he fits anymore.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They talk a bit more, agreeing to do this again. Before they know it, they are meeting once a month. They are three months into this routine and 11 months away from the night they ran away when Eric finally gets up the courage to say what has been plaguing him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hyde, they ask about you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hyde’s head snaps up “Who? Who asks?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He was even more to worry about now that Jackie is pregnant. His doll is going to have baby dolls, they just found out it was twins. He didn’t think it was possible for her to be more beautiful but pregnant Jackie was like a fucking super nova. She burned so bright with happy, and it was like falling in love with her all over again, watching the softness of pregnancy take her heart over. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Not Him. Not Donna. My Parents, Hyde.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He sighs and feels ashamed. He misses Red and Kitty, but Kitty believes in fairytales and there is no happy ending. He’s never coming home. He is never taking Jackie back to a place where so much pain waits, and he will never let Kelso near her again. It will take him years to let go of the fear that Kelso was waiting somewhere to take Jackie and he will never fully get over it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He hates it and it hurts but he looks at his oldest friend and answers with weariness in his voice. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No Eric. Your mom has a big mouth, and I don’t believe for a minute she will keep quiet about where we are and grandchildren on the way.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Eric looks away, a strain coming over his face</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hyde, it’s not my mom. I mean she asks but it’s my dad. Every time I come back from one of these meetings he just looks at me, like he is searching for something and will say Loud one?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Eric takes a deep breath because he knows this is both tough but needed </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Every time Hyde, I lie straight to his face and tell him that I wasn’t with you. He knows. He’s Red. If we don’t get to heaven and find out he’s God, I’ll be shocked. His shoulders always slump, and he gets up and walks out. I can’t keep doing it Hyde. I can’t. Hyde, he cares about you but you know how he feels about Jackie. It’s killing him.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hyde wants so badly to scream </span>
  <em>
    <span>“I don’t care”</span>
  </em>
  <span>, but he does.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span> Red took him in when he had nothing, Red didn’t give up on him when he fucked up, he is the only father he has. WB was more like a friend than his father. His father was Red and more importantly Jackie misses him. He knows she is hoping that these meetings with Eric, will convince him to let her call Red. He is the only person she has cried for, and she worries he is disappointed in her. He can’t stand to see her unhappy, nothing breaks him faster than a crying Jackie. He will push aside his fear for her,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span> “Only him, Eric, maybe your mom soon, but right now just him.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The topic trails off and Hyde knows he needs to ask his tough question</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How is he?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Eric is surprised, stunned actually that Hyde would ask or give a damn.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The reality is all those years ago when Kelso was first thinking about Hyde and said he was the best of them….. he was correct. The truth is despite the pain and destruction Kelso rained down upon them if he had lost Jackie, if Jackie had walked down that aisle and was gone from him  forever he knows no matter what he said that night in the parking lot he would be so far down the bottom of the bottle, he may have never been able to get out. He can’t want that for Kelso or wish it on him, because still in the corner of his heart is that goofy Kelso, and he hates to think of him killing it with booze.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Eric clears the shock out of his throat</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span> “It took awhile, but he has stopped trying to out drink you. Casey even came to me at one point and asked me to talk with him it was so bad. I didn’t because I can’t bring myself to care, but I heard from Bob he stopped, and then he came and saw me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>It had been about six months since Jackie left with Hyde and the basement gang was dead forever, so it was a shock to Eric when while packing and carrying things out of the basement door that Kelso came strolling in. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Eric could see immediately he was different. All the lightness and goofy was gone, this was somber Kelso and it was strange to behold.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Kelso had looked straight at him and got right to the point</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Do you know where they are?”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>His reply was quick  “Why does it matter? They are never coming back and Hyde will kill you before he will let you within a 100 yards of her.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Kelso had looked at him wearily and asked his next question, which he needed to know, or he was never going to be able to move on, never stop hoping or imagining somewhere he could still find her</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Are they married?”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Eric wasn’t going to answer, but he saw something flash in Kelso’s eyes, something like hope, and he decided to tell him the truth</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Yes, and Kelso she is happy. If you ever loved her, you have to let her go.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Kelso just stared at him and then thrust an envelope at him that Eric had not noticed</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“This came in the mail. Post Marked Milluwake. Look inside, it’s her rainbow necklace. Nothing. No Note. No Goodbye. Only the Necklace. She wouldn’t do this. This must be Hyde torturing me.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Eric watches Kelso’s lip curve and the ugliness that he can’t control when it comes to Jackie and Hyde comes over him. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Even after all that has gone down, it still shocks him to witness this side of Keslo. It still hurts.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Damn it Kelso! Stop Blaming Hyde for Everything. No one made Jackie leave. No one made Jackie want to be with Hyde that summer. No one in the history of time has ever made Jackie Burkhart do anything. IT’S JACKIE! You purposely broke her heart for your gain, why are you surprised she did something to hurt you back? You're lucky, she didn’t do something else, you deserve this Kelso.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hyde for some reason feels the need to tell Eric that he didn’t fuck with Kelso from afar and interrupts the story. He wants him to know that no matter what he truly wants it to be done, and that he wasn’t playing games anymore.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span> “I didn’t send it. I have no idea when she sent it or why. She must have slipped it to WB when we went to visit him at some point. She took it hard Eric, it was like someone died, she was wild. We had some rough moments when I told her about what he and Donna did. He swallowed heavily, he almost fucked it up again. He begins to tell Eric what happened</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>He had come home from work, for now he was working in a bar while he and WB got together the idea of setting up a Grooves in Madison. WB offered him money, so he wouldn’t have to get a job but Hyde has always worked, despite his burnout persona he doesn't let people pay his way. He was tired, and worried. Jackie had been weird this morning, and when he had called her on his break, she sounded odd. He was ready to go to bed, and  hoped Jackie had waited up for him. He wanted to see and fill up on her. He unlocked the door and was pleased it was actually locked, because Jackie was terrible about locking it and they have had several</span>
  </em>
  <b>
    <em> Damn It Jackie </em>
  </b>
  <em>
    <span>conversations on locking the </span>
  </em>
  <b>
    <em>DAMN DOOR</em>
  </b>
  <em>
    <span>. He entered quietly just in case she was asleep. He was disappointed to see a lonely light on in the living room for him. He closed the door softly and stepped to the room to peek in on her before he got cleaned up. She wasn’t asleep, she was glancing through a scrapbook, and she was crying. He pushed the door opened and said her name</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Jackie?”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>He startled her, she took one look at him, slammed the book shut and looked guilty as hell.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Jackie?” he had said again, she knew he was asking why she was crying</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>She tried to brush it away, and he watches her try to put the book out of his sight. He had marched over, picked it up and flipped it open to recognize pictures of all of them and Kelso. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Are you fucking crying for Kelso? Seriously Jackie! You are a married woman.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Her eyes come alive with fire and sadness</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>‘It’s his birthday today. I left him at the altar, we were all friends. Don’t you miss them? I miss them. He was my friend for years, you could never understand that. I miss Donna, I really miss the basement.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>After all this time she still believes he was her friend, and he will wish later he was kinder, but he explodes…..</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Bullshit, he was your friend” he yells. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Forgetting that it was him who had not told her the truth yet. He tells her everything, without softness but harsh and unyielding. He breaks her heart one more time…….</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That night was painful for Hyde, she had been wild in her tears. It was like someone had died, and to her someone did, her idea of Kelso was dead. Every memory they had was tainted and bitter. Her whole childhood and teen years became something they weren’t and it had broke her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It had punched a hole in Hyde’s gut watching her cry like that, and he couldn’t help but ponder it, and it was a mistake to say it</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Jackie, do you want to be with him?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jesus, he had forgotten how she could go from zero to fucking on fire without any warning. She had popped up, with her eyes blazing and had kicked him as hard as she could, yelling as she stomped into their room</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You are such a stupid ass.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It had taken him a solid six hours to get her to open the door, and two full days before she stopped glaring at him and for her to actually use the English language to communicate. Jesus,that woman had a temper, sometimes she put his temper to shame.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When the saying “Hell Hath No Fury Like A Woman, Scorned was written it should have said “Hell has no fury like a pissed off Jackie.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She finally calmed down  and crawled up in his lap, took his face, and said their words</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Steven, look at me. REALLY look at me.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He saw it all in her eyes. The hurt Kelso caused, the heartbreak he was responsible for, the pain that Donna inflicted and finally the hurt he was still causing by still not trusting her heart after everything.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He closed his eyes against the shame of it and slowly said</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“‘I’m sorry Jackie. I still sometimes don’t know why you picked me after everything I did. I don’t know why you would want me, I’m not the prize of the century. I know, I have to stop. I trust you. I promise.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He reopened his eyes to see tears slowly falling down her face and his insides coil. Just like that night at their spot when he thought he had lost her forever, she kisses his lip softly and whispers</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Please stop this. It kills me to see you doubt my love, I hate to see the doubt in your eyes. Please, Steven, I am begging you. I chose you Steven….. You, my wonderful, beautiful, amazing, the love of my life, Steven. Please never again.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He kisses her back  carries her to bed and shows her in every way how cherished she is. He vows to never doubt her again, and before she falls asleep she kisses him softly, and whispers</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I love you. Only You.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He had cuddled her close, and promised himself he would never ask her again if she wanted someone else.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Whatever guilt, Jackie had about hurting Kelso died instantly when she learned he planned and manipulated her heart break. She was not foolish, it didn’t absolve Hyde, but this was about working to make sure that Hyde and her failed, that her feelings were never even a consideration. She had cried a thousand bitter tears for the loss of who she thought Kelso was, yes he had cheated, but she had never thought she meant so little to him, that she truly was just something to obtain. Every fight about Kelso being her friend and actually caring about her with Steven, she had been foolishly wrong. Kelso didn’t love her, he just wanted to have her, and her wants and feeling never mattered to him.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>She got up  the next day, making sure Steven still was asleep and went for a walk. She sat in a park near their house, let Kelso die in her mind, and she swept him away. He deserved not even a corner of her heart. Unlike Eric and Hyde, she was perfectly capable of removing him completely. She knew sending the necklace would be cruel, and no part of her cared. She had gone home, found her Michael box and systemically began to remove him from every scrapbook she owned. She took all of it out to the trash can, devised a plan to return the necklace, and Michael Kelso ceased to exist to Jackie.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span> Because Jackie would always have a part of her that could be ruthless, she was very clearly telling Kelso, he wasn’t even worth her memories. That was the message she was sending with the necklace, and he knew it and that's why it hurt so damn bad. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Eric pulls him back from his thoughts by telling him more about Kelso, telling him something that truly surprises him, Donna and Kelso are together.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Kelso sighed heavily, ignoring it all and replied</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“I’m also here to tell you that I am dating Donna. I’m not like Hyde. I tell the truth.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Eric’s eyes had flashed, he was so fucking tired of everyone’s warped idea of truth. God, he finally got it. He finally understood what Hyde meant about the difference between truth and honesty.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“No, you don’t Kelso. You believe what makes you feel better. Your whole premise was you loved Jackie first, and Hyde shouldn’t have dated her. Well I’ve loved or been with Donna since the age of 5. What’s your argument? That we aren’t together? You and Jackie were broken up. You don’t have a leg to stand on, but I don’t care. You can have her. You two are perfect for each other.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hyde stares at him as the story comes to an end and gives his Eric his trade mark smirk and drawls out</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So he’s still a Dick”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was so Hyde.The Hyde from long ago, the Hyde who was so damn snarky and Zen. It was just so him, and it made Eric so happy to see it again that he couldn’t help but laugh</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes, still a Dick”</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. He Will Love Her Forever</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Family is not always about blood but about the people who love you best</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I mention several things at the end of this chapter, and a few of them will be explored in my last piece that will be in the series but more of an aside. This last Chapter made me sob my eyes out. I hope you like it, because the very last sentence is was what She Belongs to me was born out of.</p><p>I write backwards.</p><p>I hope you enjoy it.... if not, well Peace, Love and Rock Roll.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <span>After this meeting with Eric, he goes home with a heart lighter but heavier at the same time. He reaches for the only medicine that has ever healed him, his Doll. That night he makes slow and tender love to Jackie, holds her close and strokes his unborn children. The next day, on a sleepy Sunday where he is lounging in his bed, there will be a knock on the door. Hyde will hear Jackie gasp and start to cry. He will dart out of the room to see his wife wrapped around Red Foreman, sobbing. He stares at the man who gave him a chance and watches him fold his arms around her, and his whole face will relax, Red will know his daughter is okay. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He looks past Red and he sees Eric still out in the hall and Eric mouths </span>
  <em>
    <span>“thanks.”</span>
  </em>
  
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They decide to take a walk and leave Red and Jackie alone for a bit.  She is still sobbing and clinging to him. When they come back, Red is alone reading the paper quietly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Jackie?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“She got tired, she fell asleep on the couch and I carried her to bed.” Red mutters, embarrassed by doing something that seems soft.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He stares at Hyde and gruffly says</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span> “Thank You for letting me see her. I won’t tell Kitty for a while, but you can’t keep our grandchildren from us. I won’t say a word, but you will let us come see you, and you will not keep me away from my daughter.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hyde swallows, he is a grown ass man who has twins on the way, but he knows there is no arguing with Red. This is the only time he has ever heard Red call Jackie his daughter out right, he will never deny him again. He nods his head in agreement. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Red then stares at Hyde and says, not without heat, “take care of my girl.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hyde says the truest thing in his heart, “I promise. I’ll never let anything happen to her.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Red walks out and Eric and Hyde  hug……. A lifetime is spoken in that hug, a lifetime that will continue on. Eric leaves and Hyde knows one person beside Jackie always has his back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hyde has spent most of his life protecting Eric from the outside world and Eric has been protecting Hyde from a life of hell since they were kids. Hyde knows he wouldn’t be sitting here a married man with if Eric had not stepped in. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They will go through life bonded, always more brothers than friends and experience the best and worst life has to offer. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hyde will stand next to Eric when he gets married to his wife Devon, who will surpass anything he ever felt in his heart for Donna.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Eric will be the first one in the room after Jackie has their twins, Kathleen Scarlet and Steven James Hyde the Second. Forever called Scarlet and SJ, and they will ask him to be Godfather.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Eric and Hyde will repeat their childhood with Eric moving across the street and their kids will run in and out of each other’s basements.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hyde will take care of Eric when Devon loses their first baby, while Jackie curls up with Devon. He will hide the bottle Eric wants to use to make it go away, and he will celebrate until they are both falling down drunk after Devon has a sweet baby girl named Heidi after Hyde. Jackie will be pissed she has to ask the neighbors to watch the kids while she goes and picks up Dumb Ass 1 and 2, but she will kiss both of their foreheads after getting them settled for the night.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hyde will walk across the street one day when a Red Head appears at Eric’s door getting ready to knock. He will tell her to fucking leave and never come near Eric again. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Eric will step in when Kelso after many years makes an appearance, and a terrible fight occurs. Kelso will know till the day he dies, that Eric saved his life.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Eric will keep Hyde from storming the room when Jackie is in a terrible accident and must go into emergency surgery. Devon will sweep up the kids and take them home. When the surgeon comes out and says she might not make it, Eric will witness the worst thing he has ever seen in his life, Hyde dropping to his knees. He will stay in the room and watch Hyde, who will refuse to leave her side, until those eyes flutter open. He will thank God when she says faintly to Hyde </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Steven, look at me. Really look at me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span> He will put his hand on Hyde’s shoulder before he walks out because even after all this time, he can’t stand to see Hyde break.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Hyde will stand, never moving from Eric’s side when they lose the man they thought would live forever. He will hold Jackie up as she mourns deeply, and dry all the children’s tears, then quietly that night….. Alone in the kitchen he will cry for the man who saved him, until the woman he needs most crawls in his lap and holds him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hyde will plan, arrange, and flat out entirely take care of Eric after they lose Kitty. When Eric refuses to step foot back in the house without his mom, Hyde will attempt to close the house that was his only home but break. Jackie will step in and do it for both of them, without a word and be the kindest she will ever be to Eric. He will never call her the devil again after that.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Life is not a fairytale, no one knows that more than Hyde and Jackie but they will live the life they always wanted and Eric will live the life he never dreamed of outside of Donna and through it all</span>
</p><p>
  <span> Eric and Hyde will stand together as brothers and Hyde will know he loved Jackie first, last, and forever.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>